Part 2/9:
The narrative begins in 1867 when renowned Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell initiated a correspondence with fellow physicist Peter Guthrie Tate. In these letters, Maxwell proposed a provocative idea—that the second law of thermodynamics, often interpreted as an unbreakable rule, may only possess statistical validity rather than universal applicability. To illustrate his point, Maxwell concocted a thought experiment involving a hypothetical creature he called "a finite being," which would later come to be known as Maxwell's demon.